Westlake mom finds a niche in Southlake

Jacque Hamilton was on vacation when she came across a smallish store stocked with the best makeup and skin care lines.

She immediately loved the idea of a stylish place to find high-end products without traipsing through a mall to a department store.

As the wife of PGA golfer Todd Hamilton, the busy Westlake mother travels frequently with her husband and to the kids' hockey games.

But she saw an opportunity to exercise her flair for marketing, and she asked about a franchise. The answer was no.

So Hamilton shelved the idea for a time, but kept an eye out for a space, envisioning a larger store than the one she had visited. At the time, Sephora hadn't opened in Southlake, so the market seemed wide open.

Still, she hesitated. It was 2008, not the best of economic times, and a new president was coming into office.

Then one day she was dropping off a fellow hockey mom who said she had just read in Forbes that Southlake was rated the most affluent neighborhood in the country.

Hamilton grew more serious. And she couldn't shake a feeling she had about a space at Shops of Southlake next to Glen Alan Salon on Southlake Boulevard.

"It kept screaming my name," she said. "It stayed available for three years."

After talking about the idea through 2008 and 2009, she finally leased the space and hired someone to build the dark cabinets to hold products and private spaces for waxing, lash extensions and makeup application.

The decor of the very girly space somehow took on a life of its own.

"I'm not a very creative person, so I don't know how this pink and black and zebra all came together," she said.

But it did, and business has been strong since she opened in 2010. Let's Makeup celebrated its three-year anniversary Jan. 30.

Sisters Erin Dreiling and Angie Loomis, both aestheticians, have been there since the beginning.

Dreiling said the store's most popular service is lash extensions.

Hamilton said she would like to bring in more teenage clientele to help them get started.

"How great is it to come where a teenager can learn skin care and makeup and not feel overwhelmed at a department store?" she said.

Hamilton is thinking big for the future of the business.

"Our dream is to expand, to take it nationwide," she said.

Products

• The most popular products at the store are medical-based regimens including Obagi and SkinMedica, typically found in dermatologists' offices.
• Another unusual product for a non-department store is the extremely high-end Natura Bisse, which has products in the over-$500 range.
• Other skin care brands include Perricone MD and Peter Thomas Roth.
• Men's products include Billy Jealousy, based in Dallas.

Among the services

Lash extensions

• Natural look, $150 for up to 45 lashes per eye; glamour look, $200 for up to 60 per eye

Waxing

• Eyebrow, $20; lip, $15; full-face, $45

Makeup

• Update, $55
• Special occasion, $65
• My first makeup, $50
• Pre-wedding consult, $55
• Wedding day, $95
• Bridal party, $55 per person
• Makeup on location, prices vary

Customized parties

Various prices for bridal, birthday, my first makeup, my first skincare, girls' night out.

Let's Makeup, 1431 E. Southlake Blvd., Southlake, 817-424-8487,www.letsmakeup.com

Hours: Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday; closed Sunday.